Compare Low Carb Diet Plans: Atkins 20® vs. Atkins 40®

Losing weight with Atkins has never been easier. The first step is choosing the right plan for your needs, so we’ve created this guide to help get you started. Choosing your diet will depend on your weight loss goals, your current weight, and how each plan fits with your lifestyle. Learn about our two types of low carb diets below:

With Atkins 20®, your starting point (Phase 1, Induction) is 20 grams of net carbs a day. This plan is typically best for those who have over 40 pounds to lose or are diabetic.

With Atkins 40®, your starting point is 40 grams of net carbs a day. Atkins 40® is perfect for those who have less than 40 pounds to lose.

Both low carb diet plans allow you to increase your carbs, but one adds foods one at a time and the other increases your carbohydrate portion size as you approach your weight loss goals. See our different types of diets below:

LimitedMost carbs should come from vegetables during first 2 weeks e.g. leafy greens and other low-carb vegetables.You can also have dairy foods high in fat and low in carbs: cream, sour cream, and most hard cheeses.

Add 10 grams of net carbs when you’re within 10 pounds of your goal weight by increasing your serving size or adding more variety.
You can add in 10g of net carbs each week as long as you continue to lose weight. Continue to use the same acceptable foods list.

Maintaining Your Weight Loss

Adding foods back into your diet

ProgressiveAdd carbs back into your diet slowly – following the Atkins carb ladder

All Food GroupsThe acceptable foods list remains the same until you reach your goal weight

There are five important points to understand as you begin to reintroduce foods.

Count your carbs. If you’ve been estimating grams of Net Carbs, now is the time to start counting them.

One at a time. Add only one new food each day. That way, if a food reawakens cravings, or stalls or reverses weight loss, you can easily identify it—and back off for the time being.

More variety, not more food. You’re increasing your range of foods but not the amount of food that you’re eating day to day.

Stay with foundation vegetables. As you add new foods, you’ll substitute some of them for other carb foods you’re already eating, but not your 12 to 15 grams of Net Carbs from foundation vegetables.

Write it down. The process of adding back foods doesn’t always happen smoothly, and you’ll want to know which food is causing which response, so, if necessary, you know which to back off from.

All Food GroupsYou can now expand your acceptable food list to include virtually all foods. Keep in mind that you’ll want to continue to avoid / limit sugar, refined carbs and any “trigger” foods that cause you to consume too many carbs.

Example Meal Plans

Breakfast

Cheese and Spinach Omelet Topped with Avocado and Salsa

Cheese and Spinach Omelet Topped with Avocado and Salsa and 1 Piece of Whole Grain Toast

What are Net Carbs?

When you follow the Atkins Diet, you count grams of Net Carbs by looking at the information provided on the food label. Net Carbs = total carbohydrates, minus the fiber content and sugar alcohols (if in the product). The Net Carbs number reflects the grams of carbohydrate that significantly impact your blood sugar level and therefore are the only carbs you need to count when you do Atkins. Foods that are low in Net Carbs such as nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits don't have a significant impact on blood sugar and therefore are less likely to interfere with weight loss.

Calculate Net Carbs with the information provided on a food nutrition label (or you can use the Atkins Carb Counter):